Tennessee Part of ESPN College Gameday Matchup for Second Straight Season

Aug. 18, 2009

Serving as further testament to the Tennessee basketball program's ascension into the nation's elite under head coach Bruce Pearl, ESPN announced Tuesday that the Vols would once again be featured in one of its popular College GameDay matchups this season.

Tennessee's game at Kentucky on Saturday, Feb. 13 will be that week's highlighted contest, as College GameDay broadcasts live from Rupp Arena. It will be the season's only Southeastern Conference matchup on GameDay.

The Volunteers hosted the GameDay crew--which included Rece Davis, Hubert Davis, Digger Phelps, Bob Knight, Jay Bilas and Erin Andrews--for last season's home contest against Florida on Jan. 31. Tennessee posted a 79-63 win over the Gators and later completed the season sweep of UF by winning in Gainesville 79-75 on March 1.

And GameDay was on hand on Feb. 23, 2008, when the second-ranked Vols traveled to top-ranked Memphis and upset the Tigers 66-62 to earn the program's first-ever No. 1 national ranking. With 5.28 million viewers, that epic contest was the most-watched college basketball game in ESPN history at that time.

The college basketball version of the popular College GameDay football series--two one-hour shows each Saturday at 11 a.m. and at 8 p.m. ET--will originate from the site of the Saturday Primetime game for eight consecutive weeks from Jan. 16 to March 6 and is generally presented from inside or around the home team's arena.

This is the sixth consecutive season that ESPN has conducted College GameDay Driven by State Farm® broadcasts for men's basketball.

Tennessee's complete 2009-10 schedule is expected to be released in the coming days.